Having Trouble with Opera? Some basic things to check
Sunday, 4. March 2007, 17:09:08
I have seen many users reporting site problems or something wrong with opera. In the simplest case Tools>delete private data solves some issues and setting "empty cache on exit" (proference>advanced>history) is a good thing. But most reasons are far beyond that.Based on my observations, I have summarized few common troublemakers and some basic things to check if that is causing problem. This might save time before going for more detailed bug hunting.
Here are some of the things you might want to check as a starting point of troubleshooting:
1. First thing to check whether the problem happens due to some cutomizations you made to default setup. Try removing custom skin,menu,setup,user scripts and widgets. Use opera default settings and see if that takes away your problem.
2. Another common trouble maker is the use of adblocker and proxy. If you are using any adblocking software like admuncher, any host file(like urlfilter.ini) or using any proxy like proximitron, please disable those. Check if those are causing any problems. In addition to that, sometimes users do block content(usually ads) in a site using edit site preferences. be aware of this too.
3. One of the great source of trouble is plug-ins. You need to check if there are duplicate plug-ins and plug-in paths. You can go to tools>advanced>plug-ins to view the list of plug-ins listed. Check for duplication there. For example, if you see flash plug-in listed in C:\WINDOWS\system32\Macromed\Flash\NPSWF32.dll and C:\program files\opera\program\plug-in\NPSWF32.dll, then you need to remove the one in opera's plug-in folder. This kind of duplicate plug-in problem frequently happens when someone has another mozilla based browser like firefox installed in the same computer. Mozilla based browsers share same plug-ins in most cases and thats why you only need to keep one plug-in path. If you see more than one plug-in path(Help>about opera), go to opera config to keep only one path.
In addition to plug-in duplication, major plug-in issue is the failure to detect plug-in or simply the plug-in content does not show up even though you have plug-in installed. Say you have flash installed but you can't view flash content in sites. These are the cases of improper plug-in installation. The most common plug-ins used are Flash,Windows media player,shockwave, adobe acrobat,real player and quicktime player. You need to make sure that the necessary plug-in files are copied in the opera plug-in directory(usually in c:\programfiles>opera>program>plug-in). If you can't get those files copied to opera plug-in directory, try getting those individual files and copy them manually. If you ask in forum, someone can give you or you can get it otherwise. For example see how to install WMP plug-in and Shockwave plug-in in opera .
If you are using Windows vista, there are issues with some plug-ins specially media player I believe. Check forum to get help on windows vista related issues since it is relatively new.
4. If you are using firewall, make sure opera gets full access to it. If you are behind a firewall at office, it is likely that they have some restrictions on opera or using IE only protocols like NTLM . Check on this issue.
5. If you have upgraded from an older major release version as opera 8.xx to opera 9.xx, I would recommend a fresh install after you have backed up things. Also check the change logs of the new release before you decide to upgrade. may be some format has changed in new version. Similar things happened with opera mail and wand in the past.
6. If you think you have messed up your setting too much and nothing working right after trying different things, you can always reset opera back to factory defaults.
Get help from forum and thats the best way to go.Please be descriptive about your issue and psot in right forum to get best answers. Thanks. I will keep updating this post as I myself learn more. You can also check Opera knowledge base and FAQ by Tamil.
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